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12/8/2013 10:38PM

Why Kim Jong Un Purged His Uncle

North Korea expelled Jang Song Thaek from the country’s ruling party and stripped him of his titles. The Heritage Foundation’s Bruce Klingner tells the WSJ's Deborah Kan what getting rid of the No. 2 leader means for Pyongyang.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... the the ... military as second most powerful leader has been purged from the government believed I'm Deborah con ... joining me now is a breeze cleaner who is a senior research ... fellow at the Heritage ... Foundation joining us from Washington DC ... again at Bristol the significant ... eighty eight dictatorship like North Korea ... is it that that the number two guy is no longer around anymore ... it's very significant for Number reasons it shows that in China and has consolidated his power ... he's tough enough to go against the second most powerful man ... in North Korea although Tong Suntech this is this third or fourth time being removed ... previously he's come back to the pinnacle of power ... the law have to see is his lot main draw now ... at this and she and I'm actually related to Kim Jiang and he he married his aunt's ... aam and his sister as his father Kim Jong Il ... earlier the official news agency KCNA came out accusing him ... of being aligned to hide everything from using drugs to womanizing ... so is there anything weekend me I aam about the way EU and that and that the announcement at his aam after him being like go ... on is anything we can read into that ... I would interpret it as ... a North Korea is not depicted as an ideological battle between the supposing pagers ... and the hardliners ... they're not taking it as an attempted ... coup will or power struggle between ... Chong song checking in China and ... so we don't know the real reason but it's likely ... really that it's a continuation of the consolidation of power by Kim Jong and whether ... can cite John was a was a threat or he just wanted to remove anyone ... who could potentially be an alternative source of hours so ... it's really a security John's ... character is his reputation ... as a way of getting him out of the government ... removing all this titles ... rather than even allowing the North Korean people don't feel ... any kind of semblance of a struggle at the top ... do we know the reasons behind why he was let go on in the previous occasions that you mentioned ... in some cases it was corruption that was even know it too much fourteen John Hills liking although of course ... under Kim Jiang Il the North Korean regime itself ... is involved in counterfeiting of currencies ... foreign currencies ... the ... production and distribution of illegal drugs such as methamphetamine Sparrow in an OPM ... and the production of counterfeit pharmaceuticals ... other times it seems he was removed because he was seen as being ... perhaps an alternative source of our thinking Jong Il felt that perhaps Chong was getting too powerful ... and so what even if there is no indication of an intention to ... that the exchanges wanted to knock out the legs of Chong ... of from under him just to keep him ... subservient ... and cake thanks Fran that's basically and training us from Washington DC for more on that star a pink added any estate dot com and ever con ...